New barbecue restaurant ready to start work in long-vacant building

A long-awaited restaurant south of 69th Street on Louise Avenue is ready to start construction.

Cody’s Smokehouse BBQ will be in the vacant space that was going to be Quaker Steak & Lube.

It took a little longer than owner Joe Cody thought to get a remodeling plan together, but he’s ready to move forward.

“It’s always more than you expected, but there’s not much structural change, just tearing out a wall here and there and removing some stuff the previous people put in there.”

He estimates it will take about half the time of a typical build-out, and the new plan is to open by late June.

Cody already has hired managers and estimates he ultimately will need 60 to 70 employees.

“It’s a little early by standards in the past, but because it’s so hard to get help, a lot of people put up a hiring sign and start construction,” he said.

He identified a pit master early in the process. The barbecue expert recently took home first place in a national competition in Houston.

Cody, a barbecue lover, has studied restaurants across the country for years before putting together his original concept. He settled on a Kansas City-style approach with product smoked on site, a dry rub and five sauce options.

The menu also will include St. Louis-style ribs, beef brisket, chicken, shredded pork and turkey. Sides will include jalapeno creamed corn, warm potato casserole, French fries, coleslaw and baked beans.

The restaurant will seat 300 and be fast-casual style, where guests will order at the counter and have food brought to them with no need to tip.

“And we’re going to have the capacity to do catering from a small group to a very large group,” he said.

Cody is a 40-year industry veteran who also has ownership in Arby’s, Old Chicago and Noodles & Co. locations in Sioux Falls and regionally.

If his new concept “does as well as we expect, we’ll be expanding it to other cities,” he said.